On November 9th, South Korean semiconductor media outlet THE ELEC exclusively reported that Samsung Electronics' semiconductor etching process formulas were repeatedly transmitted without authorization to the South Korean branch of US semiconductor equipment manufacturer Lam Research. Lam Research provides etching and deposition equipment to Samsung, and the two companies had an agreement that Lam Research could obtain some production line operation data for equipment performance optimization and maintenance. However, Samsung's investigation found that Lam Research's South Korean team obtained independent process formula documents that Samsung explicitly prohibited from being transmitted externally through improper requests. Samsung discovered this in the second half of 2026, and it appears that this occurred multiple times. Process formulas contain key parameters such as temperature, pressure, gas flow rate, and processing time required for equipment operation; these are core production know-how accumulated by chip manufacturers over a long period and directly affect process stability and yield. The report also mentioned that Lam Research's South Korean branch changed its representative director on November 6th, but there is no evidence to prove that the personnel change is directly related to this incident. Neither Samsung nor Lam Research's South Korean branch responded to media inquiries.
